Mobile Learning

This week I joined a conversation about using cell phones in the classroom. You can see a screen shot of my contribution below. I was interested to hear how one classroom 2.0 user took it upon himself to find out which of his students had unlimited texting plans and then communicated with them outside of the classroom through texts. I like that he was so sensitive to the financial aspect of texting plans, but still found a way to connect to many students in a way they were used to communicating. My only concern with using cell phones in the classroom is the potential for them to be used inappropriately. If there were better ways to ensure inappropriate content could be avoided, then I don't think there would be as much controversy to using them in the classroom. Outside the classroom, however, is different and does not require as much monitoring of content.



Using PollEverywhere, I created a poll to test with myself. Since I don't have students at the moment, I just wanted to explore and figure out how to use the program. It was easy to create the poll, but texting or typing in the numbers has the potential to be confusing for younger middle school students. I'm not sure the price would make it worth spending to get the feature of choosing your own words to text in. Here is a screen shot of my poll:



I also explored some of the other options for using mobile learning in the classroom. I really like the idea of using mp3 players in the classroom, both as tools to have students record themselves and for students to listen to a text read to them. Even if the text is the same that they would be listening to themselves or another classmate read, there is something more engaging to a student to be able to use any sort of technology. I was also impressed with the large range of applications available for the iPad and iPod. I would love to be able to use an iPad in my classroom, especially if it was able to be connected wirelessly to the projector. The possibilities are endless when I think about using an iPad in the classroom. The challenge about this is finding the funding and administrative approval to make it happen. Budgets are extremely tight and administrators often find it more beneficial to spend the money elsewhere. I would need to put together a proposal with significant research in order to be approved to purchase an iPad for classroom use, much less several iPads for use in multiple classrooms. I am excited to have the resources and information available as I go into this next school year ready to implement the many technologies I have learned through these CEP courses.